Patrick Gass
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Patrick Gass (June 12, 1771–April 2, 1870) served as Sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Born in Pennsylvania of Irish ancestry, he joined the army in 1799 after service in a volunteer outfit. He joined the Corps of Discovery as a private on January 1, 1804 and was promoted to sergeant by vote of the Corps members after Charles Floyd's death from appendicitis on August 20, 1804. His skill as a carpenter was important to the expedition— he led the construction of the Corps' three winter quarters, hewed dugout canoes, and built wagons to portage the canoes 18 miles around the falls of the Missouri. On the return trip, Gass was given command of the majority of the party for a short period while Clark and Lewis led smaller detachments on separate explorations.
He remained in the army after the Expedition returned, serving under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, in which he lost an eye. He married at the age of sixty and settled in Wellsburg, West Virginia where he died, 98 years of age; at the time of his death, he was the last surviving member of the expedition.
He kept a journal that was published in 1807, the first published journal from the expedition; in it, he coined the term “Corps of Discovery”.
